Curler pillow



y 15, 1967 E. F. ELLER 3,319,272

CURLER PILLOW Filed Feb. 5, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ENTOR. mm/v awe X 2' BY A rroemem y 16, 1967 I E. F. ELLER 3,319,272

CURLER P ILLOW Filed Feb. 5, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Ebw/N A ELLA-E United States Patent 3,319,272 CURLER PILLOW Edwin F. Eller, 2304 92nd NE, Bellevue, Wash. 98004 Filed Feb. 5, 1965, Ser. No. 432,074 8 Claims. (Cl. -338) This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 385,445, filed July 27, 1964, now abandoned.

In order to give their hair -a softly and uniformly waved appearance, many women use hollow curler rolls, upon which the hair is wound. Since the operation requires an extended period of time before the wave is considered set, and the persons appearance is not enhanced by the presence of the curlers during waking hours, many women prefer to apply them at bedtime, so that the hair will set overnight, as they sleep.

The curler rolls presently favored are of large diameter, so large and stiff that with a normal pillow they press upon the wearers head, and greatly disturb her sleep. The discomfort is often so great that by morning she has removed a number of the curler rolls, and those remaining do not afford a sufliciently uniformly waved appearance, hence the primary object of their use is not attained.

By the present invention a pillow is provided that is especially designed to cooperate with such curler rolls. According to one aspect of the invention the pillow incorporates two or more strata of differing inherent resistance to yielding or to deformation under the weight of the head, with the strata so related that while curler rolls, whatever their orientation upon the head, will sink into the pillow, the pillow will still afford adequate support for the head, but will relieve the head from concentrated pressure of any curler roll by the interaction of the rolls with the pillow. According to another aspect of the invention the pillow is formed with cavities, usually in the form of grooves in at least its upper surface, and often in addition located beneath its upper surface in a particular relation to the upper surface cavities, these upper cavities or grooves being of a size and so oriented as to receive the curler rolls and to relieve the head of their pressure, and the cavities such as grooves or tunnels below the upper surface being staggered or offset laterally from the upper surface cavities to permit the upper surface, intermediate its cavities or grooves, to be depressed into the submerged cavities even if a given curler roll is disoriented and cannot enter a groove, all to the end that the wearers head is supported adequately and comfortably upon the pillow as a whole, and the curler rolls are so received within the body of the pillow, whatever their orientation, that they do not produce a discomforting reaction upon the wearers head.

It is an object of the invention to provide such a pillow that is of simple construction and reasonable in cost, which can be substituted for a normal pillow, and which will afford to the wearer of curler rolls a comfortable nights rest, without especial care on her part.

The invention is shown embodied in several different forms in the accompanying drawings.

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of the pillow in one form; and FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 22 in FIGURE 1, and FIGURE 3 is a similar cross-section illustrating the mode of operation thereof.

FIGURE 4 is an isometric view of the presently preferred embodiment whereas FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 5--5 in FIGURE 4 showing the mode of use thereof. FIGURES 6 and 7 are corresponding cross-sectional views of other embodiments,

The pillow of this invention, designated as a whole by the numeral 1, preferably is made of a spongy material, such as foamed rubber or equivalent plastic material. Desirably it is not of like stiffness to compression throughout its depth or thickness, being stiffest at the top and softest or least resistant to compression at the bottom. How this result is attained, whether by forming the pillow of individual strata or layers 2, 3, and 4 of successively lessening stiffness, in superposed relation, or by molding the pillow of integral one-piece construction and graduated stiffness strata of differing resistance, as in FIGURE 6, for example, is not material. The pillow of FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 has three layers 2, 3, and 4 either separate or bonded together. Of these, the bottom layer 4 is softest or least resistant to compressive deformation, whereas the top layer 2 is stiffest or most resistant, and the intermediate layer 3 is preferably of an intermediate degree of stiffness. Three layers are not essential, for two may serve the purpose, and more than three layers might in some cases be desirable.

When a curler roll presses down on the upper layer, the latter is somewhat depressed against the lesser resistance of an underlying lower layer or layers, yet the upper layer still affords good general area support for the persons head hence a feeling of comfort and stability. If the stiffest layer is located beneath a soft upper layer, the latter creates an unstable sensation and a feeling of confinement at the sides of the depression formed by the head.

In accordance with a principal feature of this invention comfort to the person is markedly further enhanced by forming recesses or cavities in the stiff upper surface, preferably in the form of parallel grooves 6 of a size and orientation to permit curler rolls to enter them, so that the head rests upon the actual upper surface of the pillow, with a very minimum of reaction pressure from the curler rolls upon the head. Most curler rolls are oriented in use by a given user either from back to front of the head, as in FIGURE 3, or transversely across the head. If the rolls are always oriented one way, the user can position the pillow with its grooves 6 oriented to receive them. Even so, if a roll becomes oriented crosswise of the grooves, the upraised ribs intermediate the grooves are relatively thin, hence individually yielding, so as to avoid heavy reaction pressure of the disoriented curler roll against the persons head. A casing S encloses the pillow and has folds or pleats which enter the groove 6 so as to avoid bridging across them.

The effect of a disoriented curler roll, or the general effect of a number of rolls that have no given orientation relative to the other rolls, can be lessened even further by the further improvement employed in the prepared embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5 and in the variations shown in FIGURES 6 and 7. In general, this further improvement contemplates the formation of grooves, tunnels or voids located at an underlying level in the pillow and staggered or offset laterally relative to the upper surface cavities or grooves. For example, in FIGURES 4 and 5 parallel grooves 6' are formed in the relatively stiff or dense upper layer 2' as in the first embodiment. In this case, however, tunnels 7 parallel to the grooves 6 and individually laterally offset from the grooves 6 are located in the top face of the single underlying relatively soft layer 8 upon which the flat bottom face of upper layer 2' is superimposed. Any curler roll that lies crosswise of and presses down against an individual rib or ri'bs between grooves 6' encounters relatively small reaction pressure because of the capability of the upper layer beneath the rib to deflect downwardly into the void formed by a tunnel 7 (FIGURE 5). In this embodiment of FIGURES 4 and 5 the two layers 2' and 8 are preferably bonded together at least in certain areas so as to keep the two layers in precise registry independently of any capability toward this end afforded by the pillow case 5'.

As has been stated, depending upon particular requirements the pillow can be formed as one integral body, or it can be made of two or more separate layers with or without bonding between layers. In the embodiment of FIGURE 6 the pillow is formed of integral one-piece construction with graduated density or stifiness, the upper region being of greater stiffness than the lower region. As in the previous embodiment tunnels 7a are located beneath but offset laterally from the respective grooves 6' to provide greater yieldability of the surface ribs to pressure of a curler extending transversely to the grooves. In FIGURE 7 the tunnel formations 7b are provided by grooves 712 formed in the soft bottom layer Sa intermediate the grooves 6 in the denser top layers 2'a.

Users have found such a pillow to be quite as comfortable when sleeping with a head full of curlers, as is sleeping on a normal pillow without curlers.

These and other aspects of the invention will be evident to those skilled in the art based on an understanding of the within and foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments thereof.

I claim:

1. A curler pillow comprising a generally fiat body of stratified compressible material, varying in its resistance to compression as between its top and its bottom strata and body, at least at its upper surface, being traversed by a series of grooves, each generally of a size to receive a curler roll.

2. A curler pillow as in claim 1, including a sack enclosing the individual layers, of a material sufiiciently deformable to enable entry of a curler roll into a groove.

3. A curler pillow as in claim 1, wherein the grooves are disposed generally in parallelism.

4. A curler pillow as in claim 3, wherein the body is also traversed, below its grooved upper surface, by a series of hollow tunnels, disposed generally parallel to but offset laterally with relation to said grooves.

5. A curler pillow as in claim 1, also formed with cavities located beneath its upper surface and offset laterally with respect to the upper surface cavities.

6. A curler pillow comprising a generally flat body of compressible material, formed with a series of grooves in its upper surface, each generally of a size to receive a curler roll, and also formed with a series of elongated voids below its upper surface, located intermediate the grooves to yield under the influence of a curler roll disposed transversely to the grooves.

7. A curler pillow as in claim 6, wherein the body is of a material that is softer at its bottom than at its top.

8. A curler pillow of the character described, comprising a pad of material deformable under pressure, the upper surface of said pad being formed with generally parallel grooves, and formed with a similar series of generally parallel grooves in its bottom surface, parallel to but in offset relation to the grooves of its upper surface.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,725,885 12/1955 Welch. 2,831,532 4/1958 Kasper 5-337 2,996,724 8/1961 Rose et al. 2-171 3,035,279 5/1962 Stead 5-337 3,110,042 '11/1963 Slemmons 5-345 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Acting Primary Examiner.

A. M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CURLER PILLOW COMPRISING A GENERALLY FLAT BODY OF STRATIFIED COMPRESSIBLE MATERIAL, VARYING IN ITS RESISTANCE TO COMPRESSION AS BETWEEN ITS TOP AND ITS BOTTOM STRATA AND BODY, AT LEAST AT ITS UPPER SURFACE, BEING TRAVERSED BY A SERIES OF GROOVES, EACH GENERALLY OF A SIZE TO RECEIVE A CURLER ROLL. 